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Madeline Hunter Group Analysis Final Version
Madeline Hunter Group Analysis Final Version
1 INTRODUCTION
Madeline Hunter had a tremendous influence in education by basically re-defining what
teaching was. Her model gave teachers different strategies to help control their classrooms and
their lessons and quickly became one of the most influential models in educational history.
During the height of her popularity, Hunter's Model for mastery teaching was formally adopted
in sixteen states and widely used by many others. Hunter is regarded by many as a "teacher's
teacher" for her ability to translate educational and psychological
theory into practical, easy-to-understand pedagogy,
and her influence on classroom teaching
techniques is still evident in the twenty-first century.
The following excerpt from Stateuniversity.com help us understand
how Madeline defined the 3 realms of teaching:
Hunter defined teaching as a series of decisions that take place in three realms: content,
learning behaviors of students, and teacher behaviors. Content refers to the specific
information, skill, or process that is appropriate for students at a particular time. Content
decisions are based upon students' prior knowledge and how it relates to future instruction;
simple understandings must precede more complex understandings. Decisions regarding
learning behaviors indicate how a student will learn and show evidence of that learning.
Because there is no best way for all students to learn, a variety of learning behaviors is usually
more effective than one. Evidence of learning must be perceivable by the teacher to ensure that
learning has occurred. The third area of decision-making, teacher behavior, refers to the use of
principles of learningvalidated by researchthat enhance student achievement.
Before we can answer the question of whether Madeline Hunters Lesson Plan Structure
(LPS) is a unique instructional-design theory that is effective in the situations it is employed, we
need to follow Reigeluths (1999) Instructional-Design Theory Analysis framework to dissect the
model and determine if it has the characteristics of an instructional design theory. The next
section of this paper contains our analysis of Madeline Hunters LPS model.
2.2 PRE-CONDITIONS
In order to guarantee the goals of the model, learners should be able to sustain attention while
content is being presented, in addition they should comply with the teachers prompts to stay
on- task. It is also assumed that learners would not present with problem behaviors that would
impede their learning and the learning of others around. Another aspect of the learners
disposition involves the ability to be intrinsically motivated by the nature of instruction.
Madeline Hunters LPS helps in drill practice exercises, i.e. learning multiplication facts,
factorization, handwriting, etc. This model is appropriate in situations that require extensive
repetition practice in order to achieve mastery of skills. It would not, however, be appropriate
for open-ended learning experiences, discovery learning sessions, or exploratory educational
experiences requiring divergent skills. It is also not appropriate for facilitating creative solving
scenarios or higher level thinking activities. In short, this model works best for concrete learning
situations rather than abstract conceptualization or high-order level thinking sessions.
2.3 METHODS
This theory has
specific methods that
are directly related to
the intended goals i.e.,
increasing learning
retention through
repetition. The
methods or steps that
were identified are1. Objective and
purpose
2. Anticipatory set
3. Input or
presentation
4. Modeling
5. Checking for
understanding
6. Guided practice
7. Closure
Following are brief descriptions of each one of the methods within Madeline Hunters LPS.
4 | Madeline Hunters Lesson Plan Structure
given that the goal is for learners to get it right the first time. At this stage, the teacher moves
around the room to determine the level of mastery and to provide individual remediation as
needed. As necessary, the teacher pauses and shows the students how to successfully work
through problems as they attempt to do it themselves.
2.3.7 Closure
At this point, the teacher reviews and clarifies key features of the lesson, by either asking
questions, prompting for students to re-cap what was learned (if applicable), and bringing
conclusion the presentation. This section helps organize students learning- it cues the students to
the fact that they have arrived at an important point in the lesson, or the end of a lesson.
Support is given to learners when the teacher checks for understanding, by continually
monitoring learning. The teacher might ask questions, ask the learners to explain concepts,
check written responses, or observe behaviors. In the event that there is confusion, the teacher
can go back to the input phase and, either re-teach the concept, or provide further clarification.
They key is for the learners to have a correct notion of the skill rather than ill-formed ideas or
incomplete understanding. By chunking information into smaller bits, teachers can scaffold
learning. Scaffolding can occur during the input or modeling phases.
It is worth noting that Madeline Hunter suggested that teachers use a structured framework for
teaching lessons; she valued the freedom teachers have in making their own decisions about their
instructional practices.
2.5 CONCLUSIONS
According to Reigeluth (1999), an instructional-design theory is a theory that offers explicit
guidance on how to better help people learn and develop. By this definition, Madeline
Hunters Lesson Plan Structure model/theory, is in our estimation, an instructional-design
theory because it offers specific prescriptions to increase learner retention.
Reigeluth (1999), also postulates that the major characteristics that all instructional-design
theories have in common are:
1. The instructional-design theory is design oriented (focusing on means to attain goals)
2. The instructional identifies methods of instruction (ways to support instruction)
3. In all instructional-design theories the methods of instruction can be broken into more
detailed component methods
4. Methods are probabilistic rather than deterministic (they increase the chances of attaining
the goals rather than ensuring attainment of the goals
Having analyzed Madeline Hunters LPS using Reigeluths framework, we conclude that it
meets criteria and it has the characteristics of an instructional-design theory. However, whether
Madeline Hunters LPS theory is, in fact, a unique instructional-design theory is suspect, because
increasing learner retention by way of repetition may just be imitation of skills rather than actual
learning.
Madeline Hunters LPS theory has had its share of criticism- for example Gibboney (1987),
refers to it as a mechanistic and simplistic model that does not improve the quality of
education because it stifles teacher and student thinking. From Gibboneys perspective, this
theory is nonintellectual as it promotes passivity in both students and teachers. He further
asserts that Hunter has not produced the research evidence to support her claim for improved
learning. Even some of her admirers including Slavin (1989), have criticized Madeline
Hunters theory for its lack of evidence of effectiveness.
While we agree that the LPS theory might be useful in situations requiring high levels of
repetition (drill practice), it would not be appropriate to implement it in more high-order level
thinking types of instruction such as creative writing, science exploration, or activities that
require metacognition or cognitive strategy development.
In conclusion, as a response to the question: Is Madeline Hunters lesson plan structure (LPS) a
unique instructional-design theory that is effective in the situations it is employed? we found
that while the LPS could be considered an instructional-design theory, it is NOT, however,
unique since it is modeled after structured teaching methodologies, rather than being innovative
or distinctive. Further, the theory (LPS) might be effective ONLY in situations wherein the main
onus of instruction is having learners imitate the teachers examples via drill practice/repetition
in order to attain mastery of skills.
References
Gibboney, R. A. (1986). A critique of Madeline Hunters teaching model from the Deweys
perspective. Educational Leadership.
Hunter, M. (1989). Madeline Hunter in the English classroom. The English Journal, 78(5),
16-18.
Madeline Cheek Hunter. (n.d.). Retrieved November 24, 2014 from the Wikipedia wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeline_Cheek_Hunter
Reigeluth, C. (1999). What is instructional-design theory and how is it changing.
In C. Reigeluth (Eds.), Instructional-design theories and models: A new paradigm of
Instructional theory (pp. 5-29). USA: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Reigeluth, C. (2006). Educational technology research and development, Functional
contextualism: An ideal framework for theory in instructional design and technology (pp
49-53). Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
Slavin, R. E. (1989). On mastery learning and mastery teaching. Educational Leadership.
Wilson, L. O. (1997). Madeline Hunter lesson plan model, or drill that skill. Retrieved
November 21, 2014 from http://www4.uwsp.edu/education/Lwilson/index.htm